Sloppy first spells defeat for Hawks

Spring Break was extended an extra couple days for the Horizon Christian baseball team, which played just one of its three scheduled games this week due to poor weather conditions.

The Hawks were slated to take on Portland Lutheran Monday and Country Christian Tuesday, but rain — and, at times, hail — halted play.

The one game that was completed this week was Wednesday’s rematch with Portland Christian, a team that had beaten Horizon 6-2 on March 19 at Collins Field.

But the rematch was not as close as the first meeting, as the Royals took down the Hawks, 14-4. An eight-run first inning created too large a deficit for Horizon to overcome, and they fell to 0-3 on the young season.

“We didn’t come out ready to play,” coach Jim Brown said. “The first inning was where the game was won and lost. If we hadn’t misplayed a few balls in key situations, the whole game would have been different.”

Brown said starting pitcher Brian Stenberg pitched well despite the eight-run inning, which included three errors. Senior John Winters came in for the last five innings and shut down the Royal bats until the seventh.